Saturday, January 31, 2009

Christofascism allows Christians, or disposes them, to impose themselves upon other religions, upon other cultures, and upon political parties which do not march under the banner of the final, normative, victorious Christ.

(From Huffington Post, by Bruce Wilson, Jan. 15, 2009)

During his Anaheim stadium speech Warren, sometimes called 'pastor Rick' talked about a number of visions and communications he had received from God. By calling on his church members to follow Jesus with the fanatical dedication with which the Nazis, or Hitler Youth, gave to Adolf Hitler, Rick Warren appeared to be in effect asking his Saddleback members to be fanatically dedicated to Warren's own leadership, given his role in divining God's intent for the Saddleback church flock. During his speech, Rick Warren also explained that God had personally instructed him to seek, for the good of the world, more influence, power and fame.

This one speech, given in 2007, should have had people running towards the exits with lightening speed. Instead, it kept them in their seats enthralled.

Frightening.

"What kind of spiritual awakening would we see?" The kind of awakening that Pastor Rick wants us to see: total, mindless adherence to him and his form of Christianity.

"Whatever it takes"This alone is chilling.

"Whatever it takes": even discrimination; even violence; even war; even death.O.K.,the image to the right is extreme, but "whatever it takes" to get the point across that in Warren's world, "forced conversions" are not discounted. Remember Ann Coulter(geist)'s dictate: "We ought to kill all their leaders and turn them into Christians."

Is Rick Warren a Reconstructionist? Maybe.

In a Reconstructionist's world there is obedience to the Bible as well as:

Death penalty for abortionists, gays and disobedient women.

Shunning of liberal democracy as a product of anti-Christian Enlightenment

Christofascism: a concept in Christian theology first mentioned by Dorothee Sölle, a socially-engaged theologian and writer, in her book Beyond Mere Obedience: Reflections on a Christian Ethic for the Future in 1970. To Dorothee Sölle, Christofascism was caused by the embracing of authoritarian theology by the Christian church. It is an arrogant, totalitarian, imperialistic attitude, characteristic of the church in Germany under Nazism, that she believed to be alive and well in the theological scene of the late 20th and turn of the 21st century.